Carriageguy

[Kaye Miller]

Be you ok??? Sounds like you have had a pretty wild night. Hope everything is ok.

[PMilam]

Anyone who can post on geekfest, would you kindly cross-post this for me? I doubt anyone will have a problem with it when they see what it is about. Thanks much!
Not long ago, our CarriageGuy set out from his depot with three passengers. Unbeknownst to whom I will call our beloved hero, his horse's bit was broken in two. No, there is no way to tell if it was done intentionally. I, personally, have my suspicians, but at the moment, that's not important.
If any of you are horse(wo)men, then anything else I say will be redundant because you know what happens when you have a broken bit. To those of you who don't know what that means, it means zero - as in zip, zilch - control. Imagine being in a car with no steering wheel and no brakes, no control over the accelerator, etc. You get the picture. And, any horse given the circumstance would be spooked and take off.
The carriage lost a wheel early on, and the passengers were off the carriage by the time it reached Cafe Sante Fe. An ambulance Tom called from his cell phone, as soon as he realized what was happening, picked them up.
Tom stayed with the carriage, and I'm comparing it to a sea captain staying with a sinking ship. Sheesh! Imagine what it took not to bale. Okay, I realize I'm biased because I think the world of Tom, but I think it took a lot of guts, balls, sheer determination, and raw courage to stay with the carriage even though he couldn't do thing one to control it.
It was already headed in the wrong direction, and according to Tom, it was quite a ride with only three wheels, and the horse crossed several bridges on Main Street, got back on the road, and by the grace of God, and the quick thinking of the former owner of the franchise (who was visiting someone along the route and saw what was happening), the thrill ride came to a halt down at the bottom of the hill after the sewage plant. That's where the police finally caught up to him. He had called for them at the same time as the ambulance. He called a family member to bring his truck and find a way to stop the horse. He got there about the same time. Tom kept his presence of mind enough to try to use the only resource he had that still worked, his cell phone.
And, thank God, he is resting at home with his knee up, has a sprain, and the horse has a couple of cuts. The carriage, well, that will take some fixin, but he's already on the phone about that.
I know there is a fistful of people on North Main who already know about the wild ride, but who may have no idea what really happened so I hope they see this board, or geekfest if someone will cross post this for me, and have some explanation of what happened.
Tom is acting all tough and okay, but I can tell he's pretty shook up. Thankfully, he is being tended to by family and his other driver, one of whom is a nurse. He has no idea all what damage was caused along the way, but a police report has been filed, and liability insurance will take care of what happened, except to Tom, the horse and the carriage.
My own personal observations are that I respect the man more now than I ever did before, and that's saying a lot.
Please pass the word so that anyone who might be out there wondering what in Hell happened will know, and they'll also know it was no one's fault unless that bit was broken intentionally.
Thanks to anyone who will cross post this for me.
Shimaka

[george jeffrey]

I talked with Mr. Tharp after the accident and he was understandably shaken from his wild ride! I am sure he will be very sore tomorrow, but hopefully nothing else will be wrong with him. I also saw that the bit was broken into. I wish him a fast recovery.

[Becky Davis]

Wow..talk about timing! I hope your passengers, horse and yourself are all okay.
It has been a wild day for you. I am sorry that this has happened and wish you well.
Sounds as if you had an angel on your shoulder. Speedy recovery to you.

[Kim]

Glad to hear you stayed on for the 8 seconds, cowboy!

[PMilam]

"the bit was broken into"
Now, it is getting really scary. Who would do such a thing? The drunk driver? This is pretty serious stuff we're talking here. Revenge? For what?
How about the passengers? Jeeze, did they just duck and roll?
Hoping you got some rest, and are feeling well, trick rider!

[C-mo]

Sounds like a pretty intense ride! I hope you're OK, Tom.

I'm not a horseman. I suspect bits do not have a finite life. Knowing Tom pretty well, I suspect he inspects those bits before putting them on the horse. Accusing someone of purposely breaking the bit is going a bit far. Perhaps it just wore out, and it was time for a replacement. Kind of like when a tire has a blowout. No one to blame, some things just happen.

[PMilam]

Yeah, you are right... the last thing I did before bed was post this.. and then, the phone rang all night.. weird dreams.. woke in a weird state.. ---- happens... especially behind a horse. Sure hope everyone involved is doing well.

[PMilam]

From BtG
I just wanted to post an update after just getting off the phone with Tom this morning. As George Jeffrey was so quick to point out, he's pretty darn sore this morning, all over. He asked me to express to everyone how awed he is by the support he's gotten on both boards, and that he'll post himself later this afternoon so everyone can see he really is okay. Of course, he discovered injuries he didn't know he had late last night, but fortunately, nothing is severe enough to stop him from working on the Policeman's Ball this morning. He's also getting the resources together to get the carriage fixed and trying to figure out how in the heck he's going to meet all his reservations for the weekend with only one carriage.
In other words, he's real sore and gimping around, but it hasn't slowed him down one bit as far as working on the projects he was working on before, like the Policeman's Ball especially, and now, trying to get his main carriage fixed so he can get back up to full force ASAP.
So again, from Tom, thanks to everyone for your support. He's doing okay although stiff and limping, but he's not slowed at all on his projects, and he'll post something on his own later this afternoon.
And from me, thanks too!
Shimaka

[Kaye Miller]

Patt -

Thanks for bringing this over to this board.

Do you feel like one of the kids at the supper table with Mom saying "Tell your father...." and Dad saying "Tell your mother..." LOL

You know these boards might be just the place to start some of the unity.

[This message has been edited by Kaye Miller (edited 08-02-2002).]

[Carriageguy]

This is Shimaka, typing this for CarriageGuy, while not being heavily medicated, he is taking the maximum amount of ibuprofen allowed by law, and is still a bit stiff-jointed and doesn't feel like typing up the entire sequence of events.

So, in his words, here is what happened last night, the 1st of August, 2002 around 7 PM or thereabouts.

It started out as a regular hot summer evening just like any other. I put on the harness and other equipment just like always, lastly as always I put on the bridle which is the steering portion of the equipment. That's the last thing I put on because it's the most important piece. And C-Mo is correct; those are wear items. They do eventually wear out, but there's no telling when or where. There's no expiration date, and they always wear out at the most inopportune time. Whoever the Murphy guy is needs to be shot, OR drug behind a runaway carriage for three miles. http://www.geekfest.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

The equipment was working properly in my driveway. I backed up the horse like always, turned him left, pulled to the end of the driveway, and stopped at the road to let traffic go by before pulling out. As I pulled out, and tried to turn right, I noticed that the horse was not turning right as he kept going to the left, Northbound on 23. I knew immediately something was wrong so I started doing my initial emergency response, which was to start checking for obvious problems. This is when I noticed that his bridle was not where it was supposed to be. It had somehow broken and was slipped up over his head and had slid all the way down his neck.

No steering, no brakes, no gee, no haw, no left, no right, no nothing. Just hang on and away we went.

We went up Main Street, and he instinctively turned into Angels Among Us Wedding Chapel just North of Mill Hollow Road because that's where we go for weddings all the time. Somehow he went straight across the bridge with no steering, perfectly, as if I had steered him because he has done it a hundred times. But once he got into the parking lot, he had no stop cue from me so he just kept on going. We went up into the next yard of the empty trailer house that sits at the corner of Mill Hollow Road, in between the trailer house and the Leatherwood Creek ditch, or whatever you want to call it, and hit a rather large bump in the yard. That's where the girls fell out, and that's the only soft spot that they could have possibly fallen out of the carriage on during this entire ordeal. They could not have fallen out anywhere else and hit a soft spot. It still amazes me that they fell out on the one spot that could not have been any safer along the entire route this took.

It was at this point that I had a death grip on my cell phone and was dialing the police department. I want to thank George Jeffrey who (I think) took the initial call from me in a total state of panic while still surfing a runaway carriage at the corner of Main and Mill Hollow Road. I want to apologize to him and the other dispatcher, who I may have unintentionally yelled at in the heat of the moment, because I had lost my passengers and knew I was in deep horse doodoo. Poor George thought it was a prank call because he was only hearing bits and pieces of what I was saying. Because of the location I was in, my cell phone kept cutting in and out. Luckily, between him and the other dispatcher, they were able to piece together what I was trying to say and dispatched EMS and officers right away. Great work guys!!

Now, it gets better.

As we picked up speed going through the side yard parallel with Mill Hollow Road, the horse headed straight toward a raised stone flowerbed with a stone birdbath in the middle of it. You guessed it. We went right through the flowerbed, killing the birdbath.

But wait, it gets even better from here.

After hurtling over and through, smashing the flower bed, he heads between a vehicle and a flatbed utility trailer, both parked on the opposite side of Mill Hollow Road from Cafe Sante Fe. Naturally, the horse fit between so he had no concern that it was too narrow for the carriage. We barely missed the parked car, but we did not miss the parked trailer. He jumped over the end of the trailer, dragging the carriage behind him. The front right carriage struck the utility trailer at a pretty good clip, which is what initially broke the front right wheel. Now, the horse's precise driving skills kicked in because IIIII had none at this point. He headed straight for the very small narrow concrete bridge behind Cafe Sante Fe, crossing that bridge at breakneck speed, and we narrowly missed another parked car in that parking lot. He then crossed the second bridge, and how we stayed on that bridge, I'll never know. He then headed back towards Main Street on Mill Hollow Road.

For some reason, thank God, the streets seemed to be mostly empty. Main Street had no traffic when he turned onto it, and he headed towards home, as far as he knew, going north with three wheels.

Amazingly enough, he stayed in the right hand lane, all the way to the train depot. None of the oncoming traffic got in our way, and we didn't get in their way. A Good Samaritan in a red pickup truck with a little yellow light bar on top saw what was happening and decided to help, not knowing exactly what to do. He tried to cut the horse off at the pass with no luck. The horse wasn't going to have anything to do with it. He was on a mission. He was going home.

Luckily, Gene Ray, the previous owner of the carriage ride business, happened to be in town and heard the commotion while he was eating dinner. Quick thinking, he and Miss Judy jumped in her car and were soon in hot pursuit of the runaway carriage. Now Gene is a pretty well accomplished horseman and realized right away what the problem was and what needed to be done.

At this point, we're on the hill above the Eureka Springs Waste Facility, aka, the sh*t plant, and picking up speed. Now, Gene Ray, and the other Good Samaritan had teamed up in the pickup with Gene Ray sitting on the tailgate, attempting to grab hold of the horse's head. Due to the high speed at that point, he missed, and the horse swerved to avoid Gene Ray, causing the carriage to start fishtailing behind the horse.

At this point, I started to get concerned, not that I might die, but the manner in which I was about to die. I began having visions of the fire department having to bring out the ladder truck to pull my body out of 18 feet of processed sh*t. NOT a good way to die. Not a PRETTY way to die. http://www.geekfest.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

So, we got to the bottom of the hill where the driveway is to the processing plant with the carriage still on three wheels and not on the roof, thank God. I noticed that Michael is actually starting to tire out and slow down a bit. Gene Ray noticed this too and took advantage of it, made one last grab for the horse's halter and successfully grabbed it and pulled him over to the side of the road.

At this point, I jumped out of the carriage, onto the ground, and for the first point in my life, was very glad to just be standing still, and in one piece.

George Jeffrey was the first one on the scene. He got there almost immediately after the horse stopped. The state trooper gal was close behind, and even an off duty, un-uniformed officer jumped in his patrol car and got down there to help direct traffic in the bad curve that we ended up in. I can't thank the officers and EMS enough for their fast response and their genuine concern for me because, once I finally got to the point where I could see that the girls were taken care of, the horse was safe, traffic was under control, and EVERYthing was under control, and the weight of the whole situation came to rest on me, I just went around the other side of the carriage and leaned up against one of the remaining carriage wheels, and just sunk to the ground and sat there in the ditch with my head in my hands, wondering what to do next.

This is when George, the state trooper, and the EMS all came by and offered their genuine concern and help with anything. I don't know what to say to any of them but thank you. Thank you for being there.

Again, thanks to everyone for their response on the bulletin boards. Your concern and well wishes are all greatly appreciated, and will be remembered.

Just to recap, the horse is fine, I'm fine, last I heard the girls were fine, the carriage will take a few days to fix but it's reparable. One thing I did lose was my brass horn that I like to use on the carriage. If someone happens to see it or already picked it up to return to me, I appreciate it. Please look me up. I ain't hard to find.

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www.oldendayscarriageservices.com (http://www.oldendayscarriageservices.com)

[george jeffrey]

I am glad you were not hurt too bad! I did take the first call and it sounded like a prank call, which we get from time to time. I heard bits and pieces about a runaway horse and three women being thrown from a carrige! Of course we go check out all calls, so I responded code three, just in case. Get well soon Thomas!

[Jae]

oh my god.
You should submit this story to the newspaper--what an adventurous human interest story!!!
I'm glad no one was seriously hurt.
I have to say that this is one reason why i love Eureka tho, this is the only place i've ever known that would have a runaway horse and buggy!
Jae

[Becky Davis]

The story is three years old Jae.??????

[sweetness&light]

Uhhh, I was thinking this was deja vu all over again...and what are the chances of a broken bit and runaway carriage happening twice in three years, but then again you never know.

Jae, this happened three years ago and it did make the newspapers. Obviously, I am missing the point...besides the one on top of my head.
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Thanks, Becky. I tried to stay online with mynewroads for ten minutes to post this. Thank gawd I don't have to contact 911 thru online.